Elizabeth Paton

Elizabeth Paton
Born	1760 Tarbolton, Scotland
Died	1817 Scotland
Occupation	Servant and then housewife

Elizabeth Paton or later Elizabeth Andrew of Lairgieside was the daughter of James Paton. Betsy was employed as a servant a girl at Lochlea Farm during the winter of 1783–84, but returned to her own home when the Burns family moved to Mossgiel Farm in March 1784.

Following an affair she gave birth on 22 May 1785 to Robert Burns's first child, Elizabeth Paton Burns, the "Dear-bought Bess", who was baptised when only two days old. She later married John Andrew, a ploughman and widower, on 9 February 1788 in Tarbolton, Ayrshire, Scotland and had four children; she is said to have been a model housewife. John remarried one Jean Lees in 1799, therefore Elizabeth must have died before that date. In 1786, Elizabeth made a claim on Burns, but accepted a settlement of twenty pounds which the poet paid out of the profits of the Kilmarnock Edition. She is said to have had a plain face but a good figure.

Isabella Begg, Burns's niece, had heard of Elizabeth Paton as "rude and uncultivated to a great degree... with a thorough (though unwomanly) contempt for every sort of refinement."' In a letter to Robert Chambers she describes Elizabeth as "A well developed, plain-featured peasant girl, frank and independent .." and for these reason a favourite with Burns's mother. She goes on to say that had a "masculine understanding" and contempt for anything that savoured of culture.

Loving Burns with heart-felt devotion she continued to see him after the Burns family had moved to Mossgiel Farm and he returned these sentiments with more physical than spiritual devotions. Isabella Begg stated that although Burns did not love her, "he never treated her unkindly."

The child lived at Mossgiel Farm, under Burns's mother's care, until Robert Burns death. She then returned to her own mother, who was by this time happily married to John Andrew, a ploughman. At the age of twenty-one, Elizabeth received two hundred pounds from the money raised for the support of Burns's family.

She married John Bishop, factor to the Baillie of Polkemmet, also recorded as an innkeeper, and had seven children. Elizabeth died on 8 January 1817, aged only 32, possibly during childbirth.

When Burns contemplated emigration to Jamaica he made over his heritable property and the profits from the 'Kilmarnock Edition' of his poems to his brother, Gilbert Burns, to enable him to bring up Elizabeth as if she was one of his own.

Having been seduced by Burns, Elizabeth gave birth on 22 May 1785 to his first illegitimate child. Burns's mother, who was fond of Elizabeth, wanted her son to marry her, however brother Gilbert was against such a marriage. A fine of a guinea, paid into the parish poor-box was the penalty for this transgression and he also had to do penance in church before the congregation.

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Wikipedia